Tonight during class Sensei Koyama informed me that it was time for me to take an exam.
One is coming up in about a month.
He indicated that I ought to pass the exam, and I indicated to him that the consequence if I pass is simple. I need to continue training.
On the other hand, the consequence if I fail is simple; it’s merely a demonstration that I need much, much additional training.
Frankly, with such a good instructor, it would be surprising if I wasn’t getting somewhat better at the basic exercises of Shotokan Karate.
On the other hand, I’ve shown myself to be capable of progressing at a snail’s pace.
At one point, I believe you could see my picture in The Guinness Book of World Records under the caption “World’s Longest in Grade Green Belt”.
This will be my third and final brown belt exam, and I know that Sensei would just as soon I pass it, and I also know that if I goof it up, I’ll have the privilege of taking the exam again. And again. Until I get it right.
Years ago in class, some wiseacre pointed out that a competing Sensei had in essence sold a black belt to a student. The student asked Sensei Koyama if he would ever sell a black belt to an undeserving student, just for money. Sensei responded, “How much money?”
You had to be there.
It’s a traditional dojo, and nobody I’ve ever seen wearing a kuro obi in the 7th Street dojo has ever been less than superb (unless, of course, they’d come back to training after decades of time off and a hundred pounds heavier; the usual etiquette is that a returning student wears a white belt until told to wear his usual rank).
Every now and then I’ve made a dummy of myself by saying after class, “You have the best side-thrust kick I’ve ever seen on a white belt!” and finding out that I was talking to a nidan who’d been out of training for a couple of decades.
It takes a while to scrape off ring rust when you come back to training, but not nearly as much time as it takes if you don’t go back to training!
I have a few buddies I’d dearly love to see back in training, just because I’d like ‘em to be on the right side of the grass for a few more decades, but I’ll have to work a little harder to get ‘em back into the dojo, I think.
We geezers are remarkably resistant to propaganda, even positive propaganda. If I told Rick Cook how much better I felt after a workout, after all, he would know I was, you know, shading the reality of the thing.
Because after a workout with Sensei Koyama, depending on the intensity of the workout, you really need to sit down and rest and rehydrate.
At least, I do!
